Tag: animals

Animal explosion or People explosion?

July 11: World Population Day

Planet Earth, the World, is in our Hands

Business, Technology, 21st Century Culture, Planet Earth

In 1957, Richard St. Barbe Baker was “convinced that the vegan way of life is the only sane way of life, and realising that the basic cause of tension is growing populations and diminishing food sources, for the past ten years I have devoted much of my time to studying the question of food production and the problems of large scale land reclamation by tree planting.”

Thomas Malthus notes that with an increase in world population, a pre-requisite is needed, food for that mass of humanity. “Population, when unchecked, increases in a geometrical ratio. Subsistence increases only in an arithmetical ratio. A slight acquaintance with numbers will shew the immensity of the first power in comparison of the second.

By that law of our nature which makes food necessary to the life of man, the effects of these two unequal powers must be kept equal.

This implies a strong and constantly operating check on population from the difficulty of subsistence.”

“The world’s problem, is not a population explosion, but animal explosion. We’ve got to decide whether we are going to feed animals or humans. To feed animals is a roundabout way of getting food. It takes 18 times more land to feed people on beef than on vegetables, nuts fruits and grains.” Richard St. Barbe Baker.

In June of 2017, the world population is calculated at 7.5 billion. The “latest projections indicate that the world will have around 8.6 billion people in 2030 and 9.8 billion in 2050. Keeping in mind that projections farther into the future are increasingly uncertain, the medium variant projection foresees a world population of 11.2 billion people in 2100.Wilmoth” With every increase of about 5 billion souls there is “another billion hectares of human-claimed landscape, a billion hectares less forest ~ even without allowing for any further deforestation by the current human population.~ Quammen”

Scientists have summarized the increase of population and the ensuing environmental degradation as IPAT, where “Environmental impacts (I) equals population (P) times affluence (A) (usually income per capita) times the impacts per unit of income as determined by technology (T) and the institutions that use it. Kates

“Not even very large losses from disease or war can affect the world’s population in the long run nearly as much as changes in human values do. What we have learned from the dramatic changes of the past few centuries is that regardless of the size of the world population at any time, people’s personal decisions about how many children they want can make the world population go anywhere – to zero or to 100 billion or more.~Singer”

This July 11, World Population Day, do you agree with Richard St. Barbe Baker?
“They’re teaching about The Pyramid of Life in the schools today. There is the ground producing all the soil bacteria, which is in the top few inches. That grows the grass, and a a lamb comes along and eats ten pounds of grass, and that makes one lamb, and then a tiger comes along and eats ten pounds of lamb, and that makes one pound of tiger. We have too many tigers. The Pyramid of Life is upset, and one of the things we must do is to turn from an animal economy to a silvan economy. We’ve got to have tree crops, instead of wasting all this land for raising beef and bringing money to the beef barons, who are proud to call themselves beef barons. It takes eighteen times more land to feed people on beef than it does on nuts and fruit. Eighteen times more land. When half the human family today are dying from starvation. I don’t feel justified in making these demands on the earth. I, myself have been a lifelong vegetarian. ”

BIBLIOGRAPHY11 by Paul Hanley Quote: “Eleven billion people will crowd this marvelous planet by century’s end. If the global economy were to grow five-fold during this period as predicted, humanity’s ecological footprint would exceed Earth’s biocapacity by 400%. We need to chart a new course to the future.”

Kates, Robert W. Population and Consumption. What we know, What we need to know. Annual Edition. Environment 02/03. Editor John L. Allen McGraw-Hill Dushkin. page 36-41

If the armies of the world could be redeployed in planting in the Sahara desert, in eight years a hundred million people could be rehabilitated and supplied with protein-rich food grown from virgin sand. If we could only accept the challenge and make that a One World Purpose, this would unite East and West and be the scientific and physical answer to the world’s dilemna.~Richard St. Barbe Baker

Our task must be to free ourselves … by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.~Albert Einstein

. We have a motto in the Men of the Trees. TWAHAMWE. It is an African word meaning ‘pull together’ and I pass this on to all those concerned with conservation in this country. I would like to call you to silence for a moment with the words of Mathew Arnold:
“Calm soul of all things, make it mine,
To feel amidst the City ‘s jar
That there abides a peace of thine
Men did not make and cannot mar
~Richard St. Barbe Baker

National Pet Day April 11

Boxer Dog

Yorkshire Terrier

“Why does watching a dog be a dog fill one with happiness?”
—Jonathan Safran Foer

From Our Hearts
With Our Hands
For The Earth
All The World Together
~Richard St. Barbe Baker

Among domestic animals, parasitic diseases are very common. Lice, mites, ticks, flies, and round and flat worms are examples of insects and worms living at the host’s expense which may cause parasitic disease. Most commonly parasites inhabit the digestive tract and skin, however they may invade any bodily organs. In the case of mosquitoes, flies and ticks, it is the transfer of microorganisms to healthy individuals via the punctures or the bites as they travel from one species to another.

When entering in to the natural environment of the woodlands with your pet, it is best to be informed. Ticks like to stand in tall grass or sit upon plants in wooded areas waiting for a chance to cling to hosts. “On dogs, ticks often attach themselves in crevices and/or areas with little to no hair, typically in and around the ears, the areas where the insides of the legs meet the body, between the toes, and within skin folds.Ticks” For humans, a tick will mainly travel upward to the hairline. When a suitable site on the host is found, the tick digs it mouthparts into the skin and starts its blood meal. This meal may last just a few hours, or several days.

” Pesticide product that kills ticks is known as an acaricide. Acaricides that can be used on dogs include dusts, impregnated collars, sprays, or topical treatments. Some acaricides kill the tick on contact. Others may be absorbed into the bloodstream of a dog and kill ticks that attach and feed.Preventing”

“Watch your pet for symptoms of tick-borne diseases. Some symptoms include arthritis or lameness that lasts for three to four days, reluctance to move, swollen joints, fever, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, loss of appetite and neurological problems.Getting” These symptoms may not appear immediately, but may manifest 7-21 days or longer following a tick bite.

Fine-tipped, precision tweezers work the best to remove ticks as you can focus their tips on the mouth part of the tick, without squeezing the tick body.

“Grasp the tick as close to the skin of the host … pull upwards with steady, even pressure. Do not twist or jerk the tick as this may leave its mouth parts embedded, or cause it to regurgitate disease-causing fluids. If any mouth parts do break off, they may be removed with a sterilised needle or tweezer points…. Do not squeeze or crush the body of the tick, because its fluids (saliva and gut contents) may contain disease-causing organisms and leak into the host’s bloodstream or in to the skin.Tick”

For your pet, fill up a child’s wading pool in your yard when the weather is warmer. Then go for a walk with your dog. When you arrive back home, the sun will have warmed the chilly water from the hose. It will be easier to pop your dog into the warmer water of the wading pool outdoors, and this quick bath may rid your pet of any ticks your eyes have missed. The slicking down of the fur in the water may also help to reveal the missed ticks, thus protecting your dog from illness.

Keep the surroundings where your pet lives as tick free as possible. Using diatomaceous earth is a frequently used method to rid the dog’s bedding and yard area of ticks.

Educate yourself and unravel the best practices to protect your pet on National Pet Day, April 11.

“Dogs don’t rationalize. They don’t hold anything against a person. They don’t see the outside of a human but the inside of a human.”
—Cesar Millan

“A forest is a perfect example of the law of return in action. Trees give back to the earth more then they take, while building up humus, and enriching the soil by the minerals that have been carried up to the leaves in the rising sap. By nature man is a
forest dweller. He was cradled in the tropics. His food was the fruit of the trees. He possessed the secret of adaptation to his environment, so that health, gentleness, beauty and strength were enjoyed to the full. In his forest setting man was conscious
of his relationship to God and of his unity with all living things. ~ Richard St. Barbe Baker

What is educating yourself in biodiversity good for? To ruminate on such knowledge fosters the power of careful observation and clear expression. Is it only to find the name and order of a plant, but its structure, its habits, its life in short, as untouched by mankind? Know now that Nature, herself, is the best text-book. What can be told upon observation of the most obvious things seen locally, the things which can be seen and handled, and experimented upon naturally, without artificial aids? This is to develop the inherent pleasure in the the recognition of the things seen day to day ~ on a first name basis.

What else there is there in the world besides plants? Are there not three kingdoms, animal, vegetable, and mineral? Within these kingdoms are classifications; organic and inorganic. An organ (Εργον, meaning work) is any part that does a special work, as the leaves, the stem of a plant, and the eye, the ear of animals. An organism is a living being made up of such organs. The inorganic world contains the mineral kingdom; the organic world includes the vegetable and animal kingdoms.

That being said, there is no real division between animals and plants. Perhaps it is easy to say that plants are fixed to one place, while animals can move about; that plants have no will or consciousness, and that animals have. These answers are true when we compare the higher animals with plants, but the differences become lost as we descend in the scale and approach the border land where botanist and zoologist meet on a common ground. Sea-anemones are fixed to the rock on which they grow, while some of the lower plants are able to move from place to place, and it is hardly safe to affirm that a jelly-fish is more conscious of its actions than is a Sensitive Plant, the leaves of which close when the stem is touched.

Life alone brings forth life, and we are as far as ever from understanding its nature. Around our little island of knowledge, built up through the centuries by the labor of countless workers, stretches the infinite ocean of the unknown.
Are you on a first name basis with nature? Being on a first name basis means knowing them very well; being good friends….

“I became intoxicated with the beauty all around me, immersed in the joyousness and exultation of feeling part of it all….I had entered the temple of the woods.~~ “Richard St. Barbe Baker.

“When I hear of the destruction of a species, I feel just as if all the works of some great writer have perished.”~~ Theodore Roosevelt

Eachspecies on our planet plays a role in the healthy functioning of natural ecosystems, on which humans depend.~~ William H. Schlesinger

For more information:

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is located in Saskatoon, SK, CA north of Cedar Villa Road, within city limits, in the furthest south west area of the city.Wikimapia Map: type in Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area
Google Maps South West Off Leash area location pin at parking lotWeb page: https://stbarbebaker.wordpress.com

pray to God that I remain to be just to the earth under my feet, to my neighbour, and my inner conscience”. Richard St. Barbe Baker

Call to Action!
United Nations Decade on Biodiversity 2011-2020

Baby Deer ~ Fawn

Downy Wwoodpecker Ddryobates pubescens

Pelican Preenning

Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area and West Swale Wetlands in the fog

“Ask any Canadian kid to name the world’s most endangered ecosystem, and chances are you’ll hear one of the following answers: 1) rainforests; 2) coral reefs; 3) leave me alone.by Dan Kraus” However, the answer, from The International Union for the Conservation of Nature, declared temperate grasslands as the world’s most endangered ecosystem. Bob Peart Saskatchewan in the middle of Canada’s plains, is the home of the temperategrasslands.

What is biodiversity anyways? “Bio” is a prefix meaning life as in plants and animals or flora and fauna. Diversity means a variety. Biodiversity, therefore is a mix of flora and fauna which includes species diversity, ecosystem diversity, and genetic diversity, and their interrelationship with each other as they don’t live in a vacuum.

1./ “Biodiversity education begins with learning. Discover the names of the trees, birds, native plants and insects that share” the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation area.1

2./ “Once you know a little more, get out and experiencethe wonders of life’s diversity. Visit a local park. Take an afternoon hike through the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. 2

3./ “Do Something: Finally, get involved! Make changesto your lifestyle which reduce your impact on the planet, or become a ‘citizen scientist’ and join others in contributing to our collective understanding of the world around us!”3 Included in the bibliography are a plethora of sites ~ a literal swarm of activities to get youth involved as a parent or a teacher, or perhaps you are a kid or citizen scientist interested in saving the world around you.

Have you ever hugged a tree?
Hug a tree, and one day you will come to know
that it is not only that
you have hugged the tree
but that the tree also responds,
the tree also hugs you.
– Osho

BIBLIOGRAPHY: What can you do? Here are a few ideas….Biodiversity. Environment. Government of Saskatchewan.

Children and Youth. Global Youth Biodiversity Network, Youth, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development Goals, Join the Green Wave One School, One Tree, One Gift to Nature! CBD Secretariat Convention on Biological Diversity.

Earth Rangers Saskatchewan initiatives. “Earth Rangers is a registered Canadian charity whose mission is to educate kids about the importance of biodiversity and empower them to protect animals and their habitat. ”

today it is the duty of every thinking being to live, and to serve not only his own day and generation, but also generations unborn by helping to restore and maintain the green glory of the forests of the earth.

It is very encouraging, indeed, that we have heard from the engagement and enthusiasm of the Multi Faith Youth Groups of Saskatoon. Truly fantastic moments arise, when youth are encouraged to take leadership roles in the community, build relationships, and connect with the earth and the environment which sustains all of us in this city of Saskatoon.

“Wherever you are, in communities of any size, I urge you to find out who your neighbors are, what their faith traditions are, and learn from each other…. various faiths and world religions show their commitment to health and the environment.” source Moses Kanhai, President of Multi-Faith Saskatchewan

To walk together in solidarity with community associations, businesses, corporations, sports and environment groups, the multi faith youth share a value connecting ideals of peace, hope, and stewardship of the earth by cleaning up the environment at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. The idea of removing litter from the West Swale wetlands, and restoring the riparian forest area resonated with the Multi Faith Youth, and their response has been joyously received at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area. What an amazing way for youth to get involved and be engaged in the care for animals, the planet, and each other with a love which transcends across the planet, beginning locally at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area.

The acts and behaviors of youth active in community service work can and does impact the environment and climate which then does have an impact on society at large. Youth coming together with a genuine commitment for transformational change is an amazing journey where youth come together in cooperation and sustainable initiatives. The commitment of the youth groups as they take an important role in the larger community is well and truly appreciated as we all come together working towards a common goal of friendship in Saskatoon to restore the local environment at the Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area.

“Planting and growing increasing quantities of trees is the scientific solution to Earth’s environmental dilemma.”

Richard Barbe-Baker

“…today it is the duty of every thinking being to live, and to serve not only his own day and generation, but also generations unborn by helping to restore and maintain the green glory of the forests of the earth.” Richard St. Barbe Baker

Location

On Cedar Villar Road west of the City of Saskatoon Civic Operations Centre (Bus Barns)
Richard St. Barbe Baker Afforestation Area is north of the land for Chappell Marsh Conservation Area.
Wikimapia Map with afforestation area location:
Google Maps with Off Leash area location pin at parking lot:
Parking is at the South West Off Leash Dog Park Parking Lot (dog park is within the afforestation area). Best access is by vehicle.
Coordinates 52° 06' 106° 45' Customizer.

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